The problem isn't the failure per se but MSFT's reputation for being buggy which such failures reinforce. Had it been Apple or someone else, many folks would have given them a pass.

And that seems to be coming to, ah, pass. I found a few entries noting the crash but zero amount of relishing in Apple software tanking so publicly. Interesting. However, of all the people in the world, I trust Steve Jobs to be with at least one less employee tomorrow thanks to today's crash.

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Anonymous
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It is true Microsoft is often held to a higher standard, in situations like this. I've always thought this is partially due to Microsoft's huge fortune - after all, if Microsoft can't "afford" to do things right, pay for the appropriate quality dev and quality test time, then who else can?

I always think of it as a simple correlation: quality inversely related to profit. Given Microsoft's huge profits, it always seems to me they should crank up the quality. Of course, this assumes the goal is to produce the highest quality software possible, which would in turn instill confidence in people for all the various products. But, it appears the goal is to make as much money as as possible thus software is released with defects.

Spare me any lectures on the tryanny of being a public company or the fact all software has problems. Microsoft is extremely profitable and should have loftier goals.

That's what I see the apparent double standard in Microsoft's versus Apple's demo problems.

At CES or at MacWorld, things happen during demos no matter what you do to prep for it. I'm sure that both the Microsoft guys and the Mac guys extensively tested the demos to make sure they worked well. Sometimes, especially regarding new technology, things happen. Have a look at the below link for an explanation from one of the hands-on people at the MS CES demo.

I don't see what your point is. It was a pre-release app on a pre-release operating system. He recovered very quickly and DID have a back-up. Gates just slunk back in his seat, looking increasingly like Stephen Hawking, but sans the brain. BTW, Jobs, who runs the company, was doing the demo, remind me what Gates was doing, oh, what? Taking to a late night TV host? Sheesh. Give it up.

MSFT built the company on the methodology of get a modest effort out intially, gather feedback, incorporate it over numerous releases and eventually end up with a comprehensive/solid product. That worked historically but my sense is that folks are increasingly fed up with this approach. They want insanely great (to use Jobs term) from the get go vs [effectively] successive betas. This is esp true of Corporates where deployment costs are huge. MSFT seems either unable or unwilling to acknowledge this change and adapt accordingly. Indeed, even Longhorn with its ridiculous timeline seems likely to follow a similar path and I saw Gates quoted recently reinforcing this [historical] approach. In that latter case I believe it was re Search and we all saw how well that first attempt was received [insert collective yawn].

First of all, this wasn't "MicrosoftWorld" we're talking about. It was CES... Bill Gates was a guest speaker, not the host. And I doubt having Conan there was his idea. Although personally I thought it was pretty cool.

Second, there weren't any crashes. IR interference with the remote doesn't qualify as a "crash." A five second delay in the internet connection isn't a "crash." The "blue screen" during the Forza demo wasn't a crash. It was a development build and the "blue screen" is just part of the XDK debugger. That screen doesn't even exist in retail hardware.

Geez, people. So what? Get back to work. A demo crashed. It happens all the time.

Ever had a light bulb go out? The idea that electrons in computers are passing at mind-boggling speeds across metals encased in silicon while arguing with magnetic fields over which way to go is enough to make my head explode.

I think the important differentiator here is that, MSFT's mission or value (at least when it originlly started) was to put a desktop computer on everyone's desk - making computing easier, with software. In no where, it said to create the best software in the universe, nor about creating reliable software. Even though now, the mission is about helping people to realize their potential through MSFT's software, but the core value remains the same. So, it's not surprising that bugs, and BSOD pops out left, centre, right.

Apple on the other end, they need the quality as the edge to differentiate them, and trying to increase their market share. MSFT is just riding on its sheer presence, and saying "if you don't like our software, too bad, cuz you can't find anything anywhere else"

Disclaimer

These are sole individual personal points-of-view and the posts and comments by the participants in no way represent the official point-of-view of Microsoft or any other organization. This is a discussion to foster debate and by no means an enactment of policy-violation. These posts are provided "as-is" with no warranties and confer no rights. So chill. And think.